Wedding Countdown - One Week to Go!

So excited for these two! One week from today, our daughter, the lovely Emily, will marry the wonderful Matthew.  I can't wait!

I believe this is their first date - over 5 years ago.  They are both Chicago White Sox fans, and in a city with two baseball teams, that is huge!  These two knew right away that they were meant for each other.

They also attend as many Notre Dame football games a year as possible.  Matt got his undergrad there - and now the whole family cheers for the Irish!  Emily and Matt were just home (from Austin, Texas, where they live now) for a game last weekend.  They have lots of fun together, no matter what they do. 

Fun photo - having a stare down at my nephew's wedding.  

Aren't they cute together? They really love and respect each other, and take good care of each other.  I'm a proud mama, can you tell?

This "big day" was over a year ago, the day she said yes!  I can't believe how fast this year has flown!  Now we just have a few little details to take care of, and then - the BIG day on 9-19-15.  Scott and Hannah will sing "Come What May" from Moulin Rouge, with me on the piano, and the string trio accompanying us.  Emily has lined up the strings to play such gorgeous music, including lots of Bach, which I love!
Next blog post will include wedding pictures! 

Hannah's Cute House Styling

My daughter, Hannah, has developed into an amazing interior decorator.  She and her bf Danny are renting an adorable 100-year-old farmhouse, and she has done a great job making it into a warm and attractive home. 

She finds great pieces here and there at flea markets and antique stores.

I love how she puts things together into artful arrangements.

She's also not afraid to try making things - how cute is this bathroom accessory? A piece of old wood (from a pallet, I think), some metal clamps, and canning jars = cute storage!

Nice beverage station!

She found this old window at a flea market, for only $5! It pays to stay at the sale until the end of the day, when prices are slashed.  Their landlord offered the use of this nice dining table and vintage chairs - instant dining set!

Another find at the flea market - the vintage shutters were also $5 each, and the comfy couch, by a famous quality maker was a great find on craigslist.

I think this coffee table is her greatest project to date.  The table (another craiglist find) is nice and sturdy, with nice storage, but it had that orange-y oak finish all over it.  Totally not her style.  So, she sanded it all down, and stripped the top.  She added a nice gray stain to the top, and white chalk paint to the bottom.  A quick sealer to all, and she had a stylish centerpiece to her living room.  Nice job, Hannah!

Cupcakes, Sunsets, and Batiks

Great weekend! Went to Chicago this morning with Emily, who's visiting from Austin, Texas.  

Where to go when you need a cupcake? To the CUPCAKE ATM, of course! This is real, and their cupcakes are yummy! I had the lemon meringue pie cupcake.

One of my current projects - an abstract interpretation of the sunset photo next to it. Photo was taken at the Outer Banks (OBX) of North Carolina, where we attended the wedding of my nephew a couple of years ago.  This is to be a long-overdue wedding gift.

Lucky me, look what I got in the mail? A sweet package of batik rectangles from my friend, Wanda of Exuberant Color.  If you have never visited her blog, you definitely should! Wanda is a very talented quilt artist, making all kinds of gorgeous, yummy quilts full of - you guessed it - "exuberant color".  Plus, she is one of the most prolific quilters I know!

Baby Dresden Finished!

Baby quilt finished!  This was truly a labor of love, using special antique blocks to create this quilt for baby Brecken.  See my previous post here for the back story.  

After assembling the quilt, and machine quilting it, I machine washed and dried it.  Love that soft, crinkled appearance and feel!  Plus, this quilt will be used, so I wanted to make sure it would hold up to machine washing!

This is the absolutely adorable nursery where this quilt will live.  Don't you love it? Cara, the mom, did all of the decorating herself.  How talented is she!  

And here he is! Baby Brecken, one day old, with his special mama!  Can't wait to meet this little man in person!

Baby Dresden quilt finished!

Emily's Bridal Shower!

We just hosted a bridal shower for Emily in our backyard, and I am happy to report that it was a big success!  Beautiful weather, having the tent was a great idea, lots of family and friends attended, all the food was great (although I was not sure of that an hour before it started!), and everyone had so much fun.

Emily and Matthew, the happy couple.  I love them so much!  They are just a great couple.  We had several boys at the shower - Matt, his brother, Dan, his dad, Joe,  my husband, Scott, Genevieve's fiance, Nick,  Hannah's boyfriend, Danny, and another girl (one of the bridesmaids), Sarah's, boyfriend.  Sarah came all the way from Louisville! (we are in the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove)

Hannah had so many great decorating ideas.  She was going to hang some tulle on the front door, but instead, we used my wedding hat from 37 years ago!  I'm sure I gave my mom some gray hairs over this back in the day, as I finished making it a day or two before the wedding.

Matt's cousin, Michelle, Matt, his aunt, and his cousin, Christina.  Matt's mother passed away about 10 years ago, and the family was not close for a while after that.  But they have been close again for the past 5 years or so, which makes everyone so happy.  They are such a beautiful Italian family - his dad, and his aunts and uncles were all born in Italy (Sicily, actually). 

Matt's brother, Dan, Matthew, Scott, and Joe. 

We served the food buffet-style, from our little screened-in porch, which worked well.  Here is cupcakes (white and chocolate), mini BLT's, and prosciutto-goat cheese-basil sandwiches.  Not shown, but on the back table we served caprese skewers, and mini vegetable quiche cups.   Emily's wedding colors (like the flowers) are cream, blush, clear glass, and lots of candles - but we added pink and gold for the shower, just for fun. Again, Hannah found lots of great decorating ideas.  The cupcakes have little wedding dresses on top, make from paper doilies.

Special guests - Emily's aunts, Jean and Helen, came all the way from Burke, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. I put them to work! Here they are, frosting and decorating the cupcakes, about 1-1/2 hours before the  party! It was a blast having them around for the whole weekend.

View from the breezeway, looking out to the backyard, as people were gathering and chatting before we sat down.  Here you see coffee, fresh fruit, and individual monkey bread cups, which turned out great.  I found a recipe using the frozen Rhode's roll dough, which was delicious.  My oven was super busy that morning!

Emily and Hannah, my cuties! Danny is hamming it up in the background, doing security. More decorating - we decorated the wine glasses with gold sparkle paint, and gave them out as favors.

Genevieve, Emily, and Hannah - my girls!

The mimosa bar was a big hit!  Hannah decorated the champagne bottles with glitter to make them extra fun.  Then we had orange or orange-mango juice to choose from for your mimosas.  We

also served water and pink lemonade from some cute glass servers that Hannah found.  She knows how to bring the fun to a party!

The Marry Month of May - Evan and Natasha

Our other wedding last month was in Burke, Virginia - my nephew, Evan Heggestad, married Natasha Muller.  It was so much fun!  We stayed with my brother (father of the groom), so we got to see lots of special events up close and personal. 

Is this a fabulous picture or what? This was taken at the end of the evening, in the dark, as we all gave them a bubble sendoff.  Great photographer!!! (this was by the pro, the rest are mine)

My lovely daughters, Emily and Hannah.

The happy couple - this was her second dress.  She got the second dress "just in case", because her wedding dress seemed like it wouldn't be ready in time.  I think she liked the second dress better - short, cute (just like her), and way more comfortable. You can't tell, but she is wearing super tall shoes, and is still way shorter than Evan.

Here you can see her pretty wedding dress.  Another nice photo by the pro.  Tried to find the name but could not right now.  I will come back and add it later.

Last dance of the evening.  So fun!

The Marry Marry Month of May

So - June is supposed to be the big month for wedding, but we had two to attend in May! Both were special (aren't they all?), and lots of fun.  But it did add to our extremely busy month of May!

1. Casey & Beto's wedding (see below)

2. Evan & Natasha's wedding in Virginia

3. Memorial service in Minnesota for Scott's mom

4. Had our hardwood floors redone in 4 rooms, had to remove EVERYTHING from those rooms, to somewhere else in our very small house.  Lived in the basement bedroom for the duration. 

5. Our doggie got sick while we were in Virginia at wedding #2. 

Bridal shower for Casey - pretty blonde girl on the couch next to her blonde mom, Cindy.  Many years ago, when I had my first baby, I stayed home and did day care to help with the bills.  Casey was one of my charges - so she is very special to me.  I also had her as a piano student for many years.
Casey is a brilliant girl, and a good person.  After graduating from DePaul University, she served in the Peace Corps in Paraguay.  After that, she vacationed in Central and South America before returning to the states.  While in Panama, she met her love - Beto (Roberto). 

Casey coming down the aisle with her dad, Scott.  I love this picture.  Casey absolutely looked like a princess.

The happy couple!  The wedding was at a lovely restaurant and museum near here.  The rain moved the ceremony indoors, but they had a nice room in the museum and it was just such a sweet wedding - performed by her grandfather, and her uncle - both clergy.  Congratulations, Casey and Beto!